Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins | Series 7 Preview (Channel 4)

In a world facing uncertain times, fourteen celebrities from the world of music, entertainment and sport are being called upon to take part in the most gruelling phase of Special Forces selection. 

This squad of fourteen celebrities will step up to that challenge as they learn how to defend their great nation, in the latest series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.  Airing across eight one-hour episodes this seventh series can be streamed or watched live every Sunday and Monday from 9pm on Channel 4, starting on 3 August. 

Taking part in this year’s condensed version of the toughest environments faced by Special Forces operatives are; Ex-Footballer and Broadcaster, Adebayo “The Beast” Akinfenwa (43); Ex-Premier League Footballer, Troy Deeney (35); Professional Boxer, Conor Benn (27); TV Personalities, Louie Spence (55) and Tasha Ghouri (25); The Traitors Winner,.

Plus Harry Clark (23); Singer and Actress, Hannah Spearritt (43); TV Personality and Yoga Teacher, Rebecca Loos (46); TV Personality and Influencer, Chloe Burrows (28), Drag Artist and DJ, Bimini (31); one of the "Peru Two,” Michaella McCollum (30); Musicians, Lady Leshurr (36) and Lucy Spraggan (32); and Love Islander and Reality TV Star, Adam Collard (28).

In the first episode, the famous faces have their first task - the celebs must plunge into the freezing sea, swim to a rendezvous point and attempt to jump onto a moving speedboat.

In the next episode, the recruits go head-to-head in a terrifying hang-tough task 160 feet above a quarry - testing mental and physical strength. Then they take on a car ambush task where they must drive into a simulated war zone, pick up an ally, and vacate hostile territory into a safe zone, intact.

The elite team of ex-Special Forces soldiers - Chief Instructor Billy Billingham and his team of Directing Staff (DS) – Foxy (Jason Fox), Rudy Reyes and Chris Oliver – are taking these famous faces to Wales – the home of the first phase of SAS Selection, where they will be stripped of their home comforts, families, agents and social media. 

Together the DS will push the celebrity recruits even further and teach them the key skills to survive.  There will be no room for mistakes as these celebrity recruits face the hardest course yet, in the most gruelling stages of SAS selection. 

The fourteen famous faces will abandon their glamourous and luxurious lifestyles to immerse themselves in the punishing Special Forces training environment.  This year’s course will be physically demanding and psychologically gruelling; all but a few who take part will fail but who will make it to the end and eventually pass? 

There will be no special treatment for any of the celebrities, as they confront surprising truths about themselves, to discover their true selves. Not everyone will have what it takes to make it to the end of this course.  The DS don’t care how famous the recruits are, how many social media followers they have or what they have done before this. As soon as they enter the selection process, their celebrity status and luxuries are stripped away.

Reflecting on their upcoming Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins experience, the celebrity recruits commented: Adebayo “The Beast” Akinfenwa: “I've asked myself time and time again - am I built for the Special Forces? One of the reasons why I'm doing this is to find out.  I would like to think that, put me in most situations, most environments, I'll be able to put my best foot forward, get out of my comfort zone, hit my responsibilities and do what I need to do! I think that's what I want to get out of taking part on this course.”

Troy Deeney: “I'm at a crossroads in my life, so I'm hoping the course can highlight the good and bad in me and hopefully we'll see at the end, that the good outweighs the bad. I'm sure the DS will get me irritated very quickly but they will also know how to nurture and to reshape and probably help me along the way.”

Conor Benn: “Although boxing is hard, I feel like this is going to be a completely different challenge and I always want to challenge myself.  I just want to see and experience the toughness and the grittiness you need to pass this course.”

Louie Spence: “This course I hope can walk away feeling I've actually really achieved something here, that I've really pushed myself to the edge of my boundaries and put myself in a position which is beyond something I could have even imagined a year ago.  This is a course that is really going to challenge me. This is different to anything I’ve ever been part of before.  There's no fluff, there's no glitter, there’s no getting myself out of a situation with a quick bit of wit. It's really refreshing for me to do something like this…and, hopefully come out a much better person, both physically and mentally.”

Tasha Ghouri: “I'm very excited to actually take on the course and just go for it, push myself and really challenge myself. But I also want to show people that having a disability makes you no less able - we can also push ourselves, and do crazy challenges if we put our mind to it.

“I really want to be able to actually walk away from the course feeling like I've accomplished what I wanted to do and I want to look back and think, wow, I did that, I'm proud of myself. I'll be doing this for the people who have doubted me. I want prove to them that they can't bring me down. I can fight my way to the end.”

Harry Clark : “Growing up, I'd watch people close to me be in the SAS, which always inspired me. This show was a different experience to what I had imagined but I always love a challenge and it proves you're always learning new things about yourself.”

Hannah Spearritt: “I hope to take out of this experience, strength. I want to feel stronger again, mentally and physically, because there's always improvement there. There are always dips that happen along the way with motherhood or whatever but I think when you just experience different stuff, it changes you.  I have no idea what to expect, but I do know it will be an experience and it's something that I will have for life.

“However the experience goes, I am going to learn about myself. Maybe I'll find out I am a bit of a mess or I might find out that I'm stronger than I think I am…it's finding out things about yourself that you would never, ever find out. We live in this world where it's so easy to live in our comfort zone, so this is an opportunity to get outside of that and…for me anyway, growth and expansion is one of the most important things, and that is something that hopefully I can pass on to my kids.”

Rebecca Loos: “I honestly don't know whether I am mentally strong enough but one of the reasons I want to do this course is because I want to find out whether I'm able to stick it through mentally. I think it's going to be really, really tough. This is by far the toughest thing I've ever done.  But I want to do this course because it's a once in a lifetime opportunity to do an SAS training course. It's going to be really interesting to see how far I can go and how strong I'm able to keep myself.”

Bimini: “I want to do this just to prove to myself that I'm capable of anything I put my mind to. I want to prove to myself that I can do it. No glam, no red carpets, no magazine covers. This is literally just going to be me to my core and I am excited about it but I don’t think the course is ready for Bimini.

People in the UK love to debate gender like it’s a concept, not a lived experience. It gets reduced to headlines and toilet talk. I’m doing this to remind them that behind every opinion is a human being. The course, the SAS and the Army have got a very masculine stereotype and I've got both elements of masculine and feminine and that’s my superpower. Vulnerable, raw, and stronger than ever. This bleached rat tail is gonna f**k it up!”

Michaella McCollum: “The level of resilience I learned from being in prison in Peru and knowing how important that mindset is, will definitely help get me through the course, so I'm going to need to use my mental strength to help me along the way.  In Peru, I was completely stripped back to the rawest version of myself…and I know in this course, it will have a similar effect. I will get to see the real me again and I want to challenge myself to see how capable I am. I don't know if I'm physically fit enough to complete the course but I have good mental strength.”

Lucy Spraggan: “I hope I have the mental grit to get to the end of the course. I have been through quite a lot in my life, and I've done a lot of work to navigate what that left behind, and I really hope that I can apply it to the course, and make it all the way to the end.

“I've always wanted to do this course, and what I love about this course is the sheer pressure it puts on a human being, that you will just not get anywhere else in life. And I've had pressure, I've had so many forms of pressure, nothing like this, so I really just genuinely want to see how far my brain can go.”

Adam Collard: “Hopefully during the course, the DS will peel back a few layers because I'm stubborn as hell. And maybe I need to be broken down to then go and sort some stuff out.

“I'm doing it for the little boy who hated himself and couldn't do anything and was the last to get picked in everything.  And from an emotional point of view, I'm hoping that this spits out a better person. 

“I love a challenge. And I really think this course is exactly what I want to really tap into my fitness, the mental strength, the resilience, and see if I've got the grit to finish and go all the way.”

Lady Leshurr: “I think this course is not only going to make me become the best version of myself, but it's going to make me the strongest I've ever been. It's going to make me realise so much about myself that I've kept in. It's going to push, motivate and inspire me. It's really going to make or break me. But regardless, it's going to teach me a lesson about myself that I can definitely work on.”

“Doing this course is going to make me regain my strength, my understanding, who I am as a person and just unpack all the trauma that is on my chest…I'm hoping to leave this course feeling empowered, feeling the strongest I've ever felt, a beast. I want to walk into the gym the next day, like I own this place.”

Chloe Burrows: “On SAS: Who Dares Wins, everything is completely stripped back. You have absolutely nothing. And I want the course to kind of remind me of that, because I've got a bit lost in myself and the industry. I want to feel a little bit grounded. I want to get a sense of it. I want to push myself, and I want to get a sense of achievement. I want to feel proud of myself for whatever I put into it.

“I think the course is going to give me a bit of confidence.  If I even achieve half of the course, then I can walk out and be like, yeah, guess what? I did that on my own. No makeup, no hot shower. I'm very capable…I would love to come out and just feel really pleased with myself and really confident in myself.  I want to feel like I've tried my absolute hardest and that I had nothing left in the tank…I don't want to leave half-heartedly.  If I leave, it’s because I physically cannot do anymore, which is fair, but I just want to know that I've tried my hardest.”

Commenting on this year’s group of celebrity recruits, Chief Instructor, Billy said: “This course is not an attendance course, the bar is set high and will not waiver. Every recruit is a volunteer who chose to step into our arena.  Although many will start, very few will finish and even less will pass. This is not for the weak minded or faint hearted.” 

DS Foxy said: "The world is now a complex and dangerous place with threats coming from all angles. Because of that, we as a country need to be ready.  We want to show these celebrity recruits what it takes to prepare for war, but do they have what it takes, far away from their privileged lives?”

DS Rudy commented: “SAS: Who Dares Wins is brutal, revealing and a testament to human perseverance.  Punishing elements, relentless pace, and standards that make war fighters proud to give these recruits a hard reset to find their true self.  And in that truth, an insight into the human experience for us all.”

DS Chris added: “This isn’t just about physical strength; it’s about mental resilience too. The recruits will be pushed to their limits, both individually and as a unit. Trust in each other will be our greatest asset. When the waves are high and the wind is howling, they will need to rely on the training and instincts if they are going to succeed.”

Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins is a Minnow Films production for Channel 4.